


Heavenly Bakestones

by Solembum7



Category: Cassandra Palmer Series - Karen Chance
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-04
Updated: 2018-03-04
Packaged: 2019-03-26 22:37:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 9
Words: 10,660
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13867461
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Solembum7/pseuds/Solembum7
Summary: Cassie and Pritkin take a trip into fearie to save the world, but the plan works out as usual. Accompanied by Caleb and Tremaine there's more than one surprise waiting for them...Containes spoilers for the entire series.





	1. Chapter 1

God, I really started to hate faerie.  
My feet hurt and my arms seemed to be long enough to slide on the ground while I walked.   
Or climbed.   
Or tumbled down the small path between the never ending line of huge rocks. 

The powerdrain of shifting three people was bigger than I had expected. Add the fact that I didn't get much sleep lately and well, I was just tired. At least I told that to myself because otherwise I would have had to admit that my fitness level still sucked despite the regular trainings with Pritkin and the nearly constant running and fighting of the last weeks.

As it was, we had merely just arrived in faerie an hour ago and I was already dirty, cold and hungry. We had chosen to reactivate the portal in Wales that Pritkin's younger version and I had used hundreds of years ago. The look on his face when I had told him about the menu his younger self had provided for me had been prizeless. Thinking of it, I still had to smile. 

During the last few hundreds of years the area had changed and Pritkin had needed three days to locate the rivulet running through a welsh forest, to find the inoperative portal within the rivulet and to reactivate it. We had hoped that the area around the portal in faerie would be abandoned in our time and so far we hadn’t been disappointed.

Far and wide the only things I could see were rocks and stones and more rocks.  
Those damn rocks were covered with sharp edges and spikes everywhere and the muscles in my arms were burning while I struggled to keep up with the mages.   
Or to keep myself upright without swaying.  
Did I mention that it was raining?

It wasn't the first time that I thought it might have been a bad idea after all. Not that everyone who knew about it hadn't already told me so. But for lack of better ideas, well, it seemed to be our only chance.   
The plan had sounded simple. Go into faerie and catch the paperweight - which contained my father's soul and could really destroy the world - behind Tony's back while he was busy and distracted by the upcoming war. 

The realization was another matter. I hadn't expected it to be easy, because in my life nothing was ever easy. But I gotta admit, that I expected the hard parts of our plan coming when we would get closer to Tony’s operation base.

„There's a small cave down here. Looks empty, but we’ll check“ Caleb shouted, pointing on a black hole in the mountain. He was in front of our little crew and already a few feet beneath my current position. Pritkin intently scanned the surroundings while Tremaine followed Caleb into the cave and out of sight.  
As if they were swallowed by a huge gaping maw, my brain added helpfully.  
And then I cut myself on the sharp rock.   
Again.   
Damn it.

While I cursed inventively Pritkin passed me to easily jump down the rock in front of us. And then turned around to help me. On the slippery stone path I was honestly grateful for it. Otherwise there was a certain possibility that I would have landed face first.   
I reached down with my hand but at the look on his face I stopped. Most of his hair was covered by the hood of his - actually former Caleb's - leathercoat. He had his back towards the cave to make sure that only I could see his face. His emerald green eyes, emphasized by the dark hood, burned into mine and his lips twisted slightly.   
Knowing.   
Promising.  
I swallowed.

He grabbed me with both hands just above my hip and pushed them slowly up underneath my jacket and my shirt so he could touch bare skin. Despite the weather his hands were pleasantly warm. He just stayed like that and closed his eyes for a moment before his thumbs started gently caressing the skin above my waistband. Open again his eyes never left mine.

I wanted to say something, but with him so close and the noticeable attraction between us I couldn't concentrate. The soft touch of his hands on my skin was enough to make my heart jump.  
Then he grinned. His grip tightened and he lifted me up as if I weighed nothing. I had a sudden image of „Dirty Dancing“ in my head just a second before I had a sudden feeling of falling down.   
Everything happened so fast that I hadn’t even time to scream.

Pritkin cought me shortly before I would have added a few more cuts to my already abused back and put me on the ground. I was still having an internal debate if I should slap him or kiss him for his teasing me like that, but forgot about it, when I saw his face.

Pritkin just stood there and stared at me, his hands still holding me. His eyes were wide open as if in shock or utter disbelief and he looked a little pale. Adrenaline kicked in and I wildly turned my head, being sure that there was something horrible behind me and found -  
nothing.   
And a lot of rock.  
I turned back to him expecting to find blood seeping out somewhere and quickly scanned him for obvious injuries. Thankfully I couldn't find any.   
Pritkin must have gotten his shit together in the meantime. Or at least most of it.  
His hands were still under my arms and his fingers dug into my back where he had caught me. I wasn't entirely sure but they seemed to be slightly trembling.

Considering how fast war mages usually recovered from almost anything, that wasn't reassuring. Considering how fast Pritkin usually recovered it wasn't reassuring at all. 

I breathed to fight the upcoming panic and to calm down myself. He blinked and his expression changed into a slightly bewildered version of war mage neutral.   
„Pritkin, what the hell?“ I finally asked, his face only inches from mine.  
„I - I'm not sure. I-“ he let me go and took a step back.   
„I thought I heard something,“ he looked at the rocks behind me thoughtfully. „But it must have been a mistake. “  
„Pritkin, what is it? You didn't have that look on your face when a huge dragon was about to fry us.“   
„It's... nothing. I guess I maybe pushed my senses to much. They are slightly different since...you brought me back. There's still a bit of a learning curve....“  
And then Tremaine saved him. “All clear, sir.”  
„Good, we'll spent the night here,“ coming from Pritkin.  
“The night, sir?”  
“You heard me”, Pritkin growled. Patience had never really been his greatest strength.  
„It looks like we could use the cave as cover and even light a fire.“ That was Caleb probably trying to ease the atmosphere.   
„Barbecue time Ladies“ he announced with a big grin on his face.


	2. Chapter 2

Half an hour later I leaned back against the wall of rock with a sigh. Yeah, that was more like it. The grilled chicken had smelled like heaven and its taste hadn’t disappointed. For a moment I thought about sleeping right here. 

But I had to talk to Pritkin first which meant that I had to wait. Right know he and Caleb were still busy building up the wards around our improvised camp. After our little incident earlier he hadn't said a word and had done his best to avoid me. Despite my aching muscles I decided to do something useful in the meantime and got up to help Tremaine unpacking our sleeping bags. We were nearly done with it, when I heard Pritkins footsteps coming closer.

„That should be enough, even considering our kind of luck.“ Pritkin said coming around the corner which lead to the entrance of the cave a few feet away. The magical energy he’d spent on the wards was still surrounding him, prickling like electricity.  
Then he looked at me.  
“Cassie, if you need to pee and want to go outside you should go now. It will be pitch dark around here in half an hour and I want you to stay inside the wards then.”   
“I can escort you,” Tremaine offered, when Caleb came in behind Pritkin.  
“You won’t!” Pritkin, Caleb and I answered simultaneously.   
“Wow. I didn’t mean to offend?!” Tremaine looked a little lost. “I mean, someone should accompany her or- or not?” He looked around from Pritkin to Caleb who suddenly found a reason to scrabble about in his backpack.   
“I will”, Pritkin said in his “don’t you dare to object” voice, clearly addressing me.  
I sighed because I was tired and things became a little urgent anyway. So I decided to face my fate at this point and just went with him. He seemed to be puzzled because I hadn’t started a discussion about that, but said nothing.

When we left the cave’s protection the rain slapped me in the face and the wind was freezing. It had already started do get darker and I looked around searching for a convenient spot. And looked around again.  
The narrow stone path failed to offer a lot of possibilities.   
Of course it did.  
“Would you mind to go back in and give me some privacy?” I asked, getting a little desperate.  
“I would mind.”  
“I knew you’d say that. Would you at least turn around then? Please?”  
“Yes, but you have to promise me something first,” he grinned evilly. 

I seriously considered to just go for it and let him watch but I didn’t have it in me. Even I had some standards. But the advantage was clearly on his side and it felt suspiciously like he had planned that.   
Son of a bitch.

“What do you want?” I asked to speed things up. My coat was already soaked and I really wanted to go back inside.  
Pritkin came close enough to be able to whisper directly into my ear.   
„I will do a silence spell when Caleb and Tremaine are on watch, you have to promise me that you will hear me out and that you’ll do what I’ll ask you to for a change.”  
He knew that we couldn't risk someone - or make that Tremaine - overhearing the stuff I wanted to talk about, which made a silence spell necessary. 

I knew I would possibly regret it, but nodded anyway.   
Pritkin took a step back and grinned satisfied before he slowly turned around.

I was a woman after all, so I just had to ask “How do I know that you won't look?”   
Pritkin turned back again and looked at me with narrowed eyes. He closed the distance between us, putting his hand on my back and pulling me even closer to him. With his other hand he wiped a strand of hair behind my ear under my hood. When he bent over to talk into my ear, I could feel his warm breath on my neck and the stubbles of his cheek scratching lightly over my skin. He kept his voice dangerously low and spoke deliberately slow which immediately gave me the heebie-jeebies.

“You can’t even imagine most of the things I would like to do with you, when you lose your pants, Cassie. I promise you that you will one day. But right now you would just have to trust me that watching you pee isn’t on the list. Half demon or not, even I have some standards.”

And with that he took a few steps back and turned around.


	3. Chapter 3

“Tremaine and Caleb take the first shift and I will cover the rest of the night,” Pritkin explained when we were back in.  
Caleb agreed and Tremaine had obeyed so fast, that he had already reached the corner, hand on his potion belt and a concentrated look on his face.  
His strict obedience never failed to surprise.  
Then both of them were out of sight.  
A second later I felt the familiar plopp of the closing silence bubble around us.

Pritkin pulled off his wet coat and sat down beside me. He wore a dark green hoodie and his usual arsenal of potion belts and other mostly lethal weapons.  
„I know that you have questions, Cassie. And I promise you to answer them as best as I can. But not tonight. I will give you the answers to your questions tomorrow but I have to check on something first. For the next few hours please promise me to take a rest and get some sleep. You'll need your strength tomorrow.“

I sighed. He had a point.  
“If I do that, you’ll answer all my questions tomorrow?”  
Pritkin came closer and besides the silence spell his voice was not much more than a whisper.  
„Let me put it otherwise. If you do not promise me, I swear I will make you regret it.”  
To be honest I had even planned to get some rest and try to sleep because I felt like I rolled through a field of glass shards. But I couldn’t give in just like that. It was a habit.

“Okay, but if I do, I’ll get answers and you’ll buy me one really big jelly donut on a weekly basis as soon as we’re back on earth... And I mean the real thing, no wholemeal or some other healthy ingredients. Deal?”  
Pritkin looked like he was thinking it through.  
“Come on, you’ll run it off me anyway."  
“Agreed. But I guess I know something better than _running_ it off you.” That evil and boyish smile was back in place.  
I swallowed again, hard.  
“What if Caleb or Tremaine comes back?”  
“They won’t.” Pritkin sounded sure.  
“You can’t know that.”  
“Believe me, I made pretty clear what would happen if Tremaine abandons his watch to come back in.”  
“And Caleb?”  
“Caleb probably wouldn’t even come in if his life depended on it.”  
“But what-”  
“Stop it,” he laid a finger on my lips, “you won’t escape me this time.”  
He finally closed the distance between us to kiss me.

And just like that all the questions in my mind vanished to make room for other impressions. The sensation of his lips on mine. The soft touch of his warm hand on my neck. His unique masculine scent of gunpowder and spent magic. The kiss was gentle at first but grew into something more demanding, more desperate, hungry. I could feel him gently pushing me down to the ground with his weight and I let him.

Somewhere in my mind I knew that there were so many reasons why this could be a very bad idea, but right now I just didn’t care. I wanted to feel him close to me, to feel his hands on my body, to breathe in his scent.  
Pritkin took his time exploring me with his tongue and I enjoyed every single touch. I ran my hands through his hair which was still wet from the rain and surprisingly soft. Until now I hadn't realized how much I had been craving this. And now my body was craving more. Him.

Pritkin pulled back a little and watched me.  
The way he was holding himself above me brought out the rocklike muscles in his arms and the reflection of the fire in his eyes made them shine with emerald green sparks. He looked torn for a moment and seemed to evaluate the risk we were taking. Considering what followed, his conclusion was pretty clear.

"There’s so much hunger in your eyes...Let me take care of that.”  
Thereby he unconsciously licked his lips and I followed the movement - first with my eyes and then with my finger on his lips. His eyes widened a little before he bent down again and found a spot just above my collarbone. Starting there he was licking and kissing his way up along my throat to my neck.  
It had only taken him a few minutes and he hadn’t even moved except of what he did with his lips and I lay there trembling and making those little noises which alarmingly sounded like sobs.

He started to lick and kiss his way back down from my neck to my collarbone and pushed my shirt up with his hand. With my bra still in place he barely touched my breasts at first and then he took them in both of his hands while he continued to kiss his way down my belly. When he reached the top of my jeans he paused to watch me again.

Then his lips were back on mine and I could feel him hard against my hips. I put my hands around his back and slowly let them wander beneath the waistband of his jeans to reach the small dimples just above is ass.  
Pritkin made a low growling sound deep in his throat and with that he unleashed parts of his power. He slowly breathed it into me and it felt amazing. It felt refreshing like a cool breeze on a hot Vegas summer's day or like a bottle of water if you wandered through the desert. Simultaneously it was like a warm embrace and I welcomed it and let it wash through my body, drowning me in sweet sensation.

When his hand finally reached beneath my unbuttoned jeans and under my slip to cover me I just couldn’t take it anymore. He rolled my sweetest spot expertly between his fingers and it was suddenly too much. I dug my nails in his broad shoulders, my back aching up and I came screaming in pleasure and relief at the same time.

Pritkin just stayed like that for a moment, watching me and holding me, while I felt how the afterglow made my bones go wobbly. I wasn’t really up to something else except lying there for a few more minutes. He grinned jauntily and kissed me slowly before he pushed himself up to grab one of the sleeping bags. Pritkin lay down behind me with his back to the stonewall so he could see the cave’s entrance and didn’t block the warmth of the fire. Then he wrapped the sleepingback around us like a blanket. It felt pretty comfortable with the warmth of his body from behind and the fire in front of me. I listened to his steady heartbeat, just enjoying his presence for the moment and the feeling of security I always had in his arms.

“You promised me to get some sleep” he told me quietly after a while. I heard him, but was too tired to answer because I already dozed lightly. Maybe he thought that I had fallen asleep, because he gently stroked over my messy curls.  
“Sleep well Cassie,” he whispered, “I love you”.


	4. Chapter 4

When I woke up I realized that Pritkin didn’t lie there anymore and that I couldn’t see much. I couldn’t have slept for long because I was still tired. And wasn’t there something wrong with that? Shouldn’t I be more… energized? Maybe? I had the sinking feeling, that I was somehow missing something important and looked at the ceiling - yeah, like that would help. 

The dim glow of the small fire was the only source of light within the cave which made it pretty damn dark. I sat up and felt a sudden movement right beside me. But before I could scream, a huge hand covered my mouth. Belonging to a huge Afro-American guy in a black coat, I realized. When I relaxed again he took his hand away.

“Damnit Caleb, don’t startle me like that!” I took a few deep breaths to calm myself down again.  
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you, but I had to wake you up. You and I will have a little chat now.” He kept his voice low.   
“What? Is something wrong?”  
“Well, let me summon it up for you. You’re not a war mage which is why you don’t know a lot of stuff, but I will spell things out for you now. Ok?”

He didn’t wait for a response.

“Cassie, you know I wasn’t a supporter of that plan of yours from the beginning. But I’m even less now. I don’t know what’s wrong with you or with him, and normally I really wouldn't want to know, but our lives or - worst case szenario - the destiny of our world itself is depending on us. So I won’t just look away, because I can’t.   
You shifted us from Vegas to Wales this afternoon. We managed to get through the portal because we were able to activate it with our combined power. Since we entered faerie John is the only one able to use at least parts of his magic, because of the amount of fey blood he inherits. We had to hike down that cursed mountain for little more than an hour but you were already looking like you might have fallen over any second - Yes, I noticed.   
Well, I did my best to distract Peter but I honestly don’t know if it was enough,” he paused shortly.

“Anyway, we found this cave and John immediately decided to give you a rest and spent the night here despite the fact, that we will be sitting ducks here if anybody attacks us. It took him nearly two hours to get up enough wards that we would have at least a chance to escape if necessary. Not to mention the energy he had to spent. On top of that we’re still quite close to the portal. If someone is monitoring it they would already know that the portal had been reactivated. If we would have hiked down for one more hour we could have reached the forest below. As far as I know water is John’s favorite magical element. Down there he could have used the river we had seen from above to channel power. 

But no, we stayed up here.

Ok, I thought right then and decided to trust his judgement in your case. When I had some time to think about it during my watch, some other things occured to me.   
I know that you can’t access the pythian power in faerie. But that had been the case in the demon realms as well. And yet you were exhausted as if you had run a marathon which hadn’t been the case then, despite you were powering that seidr-link at that time.”  
I wanted to say something, but Caleb stopped me with a gesture. The bad feeling I had in my gut ever since we had entered faerie, steadily increased while he continued.

“To cut a long story short I thought something might be seriously wrong with you -no offence.”  
“None taken,” I repeated automatically.  
“Then John ordered us out. I guessed to give you two some privacy to talk and to rest or...whatever. I didn’t expect him to...well, let’s say to reload his power because you didn’t look like you had anything left to spare… Oh come on, don’t gimme that look.”

“Would you at least turn your voice down?” I whispered harshly.

“It’s raining like a waterfall, Peter won’t hear us. Anyway, I trusted John not to -you know what I mean. What I didn’t expect was the way he looked when he came back.” he paused, probably to find the right words. His voice was gentle when he continued, which immediately started to seriously worry me. A gentle war mage wasn’t usually a good sign. I waited for the stone to drop.

“Cassie, his face was white as a sheet, he walked like he was carrying a ton of weight on his shoulders and clearly looked like hell. If someone would have attacked us right then we would have been royally screwed. But despite all that, he beamed a smile at me. A SMILE. And I mean the real thing. I had never seen him that… that happy?! It was actually pretty scary. So forgive the hell out of me and tell me what I’m missing here.”

“Wow, Caleb, I guess that would be the 1 Billion Dollar question.”  
“Cassie, I mean it. If you have any idea what it is, tell me,” Caleb said, his voice was deadly serious. He really could pull off the scary and deathly war mage he actually was.  
“I honestly didn’t think much about it until now.” Judging by his expression that wasn’t exactly the answer he’d wanted to hear. I strongly had to fight the urge to draw back and tried to figure out some of the chaos in my head.  
“Uhm,” - ok, I could do better than that.   
“I probably will know more tomorrow, Caleb. Pritkin promised me to answer my questions. If you can’t wait until then you’d have to ask him.”  
“Yes, because that would go over well.”

My thoughts exactly, I didn't say because - yeah. But be that as it may, I had enough. I needed to get some sleep and I couldn't give Caleb the answers he deserved because I didn’t have them. So I decided to screw diplomacy and cut this down. Being a war mage I was pretty sure Caleb could handle that.

“You volunteered Caleb and I’m grateful for it. I really think that we need your support but you don’t owe me anything. If anything it’s the other way around. And I’d say that it would be the same with Pritkin after what you did to help me break him out...there. So, if you do not want to accompany us…”  
“So what? You’re telling me off just like that?” he asked angrily. “No way honey, I so won’t let the world’s destiny depend on the two of you alone in faerie. No freaking way. I know what you’re doing Cassie. And I’m not afraid to pry some answers out of John right…”

“GET OUT NOW!” Tremaine was shouting, running around the corner at full speed.   
Caleb was already on his feet and had pulled me up with him before I even realized what was happening. He had grabbed my arm and pulled me out behind him uncompromising, leaving our stuff behind. 

“What the hell?” I tried my best to keep up with Caleb but still he half carried half pulled me up the narrow stonepath.   
“We have to go back to the portal! Now!” Tremaine pulled his gun while he quickly filled us in. I realized that I must have slept longer than I’d thought, because the first lights of dawn already turned the rocks into the dim light of the upcoming day. Even the rain had stopped. 

“Some of the fey must have monitored the inactivate portal. They’re coming up and gaining fast. The Commander counted at least seven fey plus two or maybe more men who could be possibly black circle. He’ll stay behind to boobytrap the path and buy us time.”   
“Crap,” Caleb said with feeling. “I knew this would happen. I’ll help Cassie, you’ll have our back.” Caleb ordered. Tremaine nodded, looking pretty damn grim, letting us pass.  
“But Pritkin…”  
“The portal is our only chance. We have to reach it before they’re catching up with us.” Caleb explained, while he nearly threw me up the huge step to the next large rock.  
“But he…”  
“John will stall them as long as he can and then I’m sure he’ll catch up with us, Cassie.”   
“Damnit Caleb you know him!” I was furious but didn’t even try to slow him down. That would have been useless.  
“Yes I do, Cassie. And that’s the reason why I’m sure that he’ll be there in time. He’s too stubborn and he won’t leave you,” Caleb did his best to reassure me while he shoved me around the next corner. I must have cut myself on some sharp edge because I felt fresh blood run down my arm. I didn’t really notice the pain in my upcoming panic.

“He’ll be there,” I convinced myself, trying to breathe.

We’ll make it in time. We could do that. Pritkin would stall them long enough. God, he would fight them all on his own if necessary. But he would win, I told myself. Even if he fought them on his own, he would win. Wouldn’t he?  
I felt my knee connect with the rock in a very unhealthy way and shrugged it off. Our meeting in the cave came to my mind. The power he had breathed into me. The amazing feeling it had been. 

The complete absence of a power drain on my side. He’d given me power and didn’t take anything back. Power he would have needed after what he’d done today. Power he’d desperately need right now.   
White as a sheet, Caleb had said.

I would have fallen, if Caleb hadn't had a deathgrip on my arm.


	5. Chapter 5

We stumbled anyway when the ground shook beneath our feet, caused by the first explosion. The second followed shortly thereafter accompanied by the incredibly loud growling sound of a landslide. When I looked down all I could see was a huge cloud of dust. 

And a guy in a black leather coat, somehow dangling in mid air, where the rocks had just been. I couldn’t see how he did it because of all the dust around him and Caleb started pulling on my arm again. 

“Come on Cassie, we gotta move!” he pointed at a spot below Pritkin to show me a bunge of fastly moving figures who already began to climb up again.   
"Caleb! We have to do something!” Pritkin would be toast if they reached him. Caleb looked torn.   
“Peter, you’ll take Cassie up there, I’ll help John, dragging his war mage ass up here,” he growled. “And Cassie?”  
“Yes?”  
Caleb lowered his voice “Your zipper is open.”  
I sighed and quickly closed it, feeling caught.   
“Alright sir”, Tremaine said and shot me an apologizing look when he grabbed my arm and started to pull me along as fast as he could. 

A few minutes later we’d reached a bigger platform. My lungs burned and my heart beat frantically. I convinced Tremaine to take a short stop because I needed to take a breath. Otherwise I would have fallen over. 

The next second I was thrown to the ground eating debris. Which turned out to be a good thing. I just stared at the still slightly trembling arrow which stuck in the hard rock behind me, right where my head would have been. And then at Tremaine, who hid behind a large piece of rock next to me. 

When I turned I saw Pritkins green eyes above mine. Relief wanted to spread through me but came to a sudden stop, when the look in his face fully registered.   
“Don’t touch the arrow... it’s poisoned!” he pressed out between gritted teeth. His jaw was tight, his skin was covered with dust and sweat and he looked pained. But before I could see the reason for that he pushed himself up, turned around and pulled on something heavy.   
Or someone, I realized, when Caleb's hand reached the platform. In his other hand he held a faint blue life preserver. Pritkins shield, manifested into a rope.

“If you report that to Marsden I’ll shoot you,” Caleb spit out when he got to his feet. 

A third explosion violently shook the rock beneath us and would buy us a little more time. But until now we all had done the math. No way would we get to the portal before they would catch up with us. The fey were just too damn fast and they knew how to use the home field advantage they had. We needed a plan.

I struggled to get to Tremain behind the protection of the large rock. Pritkin followed me but Caleb was faster because Pritkin didn’t put any weight on his left leg. He sank down heavily beside me.   
I slapped him anyway. 

Or I tried, but I wasn’t fast enough and he catched my hand only inches from his dirt covered cheek. His green eyes seemed brighter than usual, caused by the large amount of dust and dried blood all over his face. Obviously he had decided to screw the secretive manner because he pulled me close and kissed me. The kiss was different to the sweet and gentle kiss earlier. He put all his feelings into it. I could feel passion and fury, desperation and hope, all packed into a kiss that would have swiped me off my feet if I wouldn’t have been already on the ground. 

When we broke apart he simply ignored Caleb's mumbled comment about getting a room. Which told me something about the condition he must be in. A sudden fear climbed up my spine. Tremaine had somehow managed to put a questioning grin on his face. 

“Pritkin, what is it?” I asked him and even my voice sounded fearful.   
“One of their arrows hit me,” Pritkin took a knife out of his boot and cut parts of his trousers open. Seeing Pritkins leg Tremains grin was gone and Caleb sucked in a breath. It looked horrible. There wasn’t much blood, but parts of the arrow still stuck in his thigh. Around the wound his veins were visible because they shone through his skin in a weird violet colour. It was fanning-out and already covered more than half of his thigh. I couldn’t see if it had already spread to the hip because of his clothes. 

Pritkin shielded his hand, grabbed the remaining part of the arrow and jerked it out.  
“Damn,” Tremaine spoke it out, “that’s one of those acid-forming fey poisons. I heard that the combination of the substance with blood will practically eat you from the inside. You should have been dead by now!” Tremaine watched Pritkin with a look of stunned disbelief on his face. Usually you won’t get to see that kind of look on a war mages’ face, but we seemed to have a special talent.

“Thanks Tremaine... I almost missed that.” Pritkins voice dripped with sarcasm. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.  
“Tell me you can heal this”, I told him and even managed to keep my voice steady because I tried my best to shut down my emotions. It was either that or just losing it right now.  
He looked at me. I could feel the heat he gave off and see the pain in his eyes.   
“I could probably heal this...if we manage to get back through the portal. Cassie, please listen to me. You have to be...absolutely sure that you have left enough energy to shift back to my old house in Stratford. Do you remember those lilac vines... growing besides the bench?”  
I nodded, he took another deep breath.  
“They inherit a special juice that will work as an antivenom. To work fast enough it has to be injected directly. Do you understand?”  
“Yes, but how- “

Pritkin interrupted me with a gesture. He pointed at an injection which was clipped to the side of his potion belt and filled with a weird green substance. “You can use this injection, but please make sure that it will be absolutely empty before that. Otherwise… it won’t be much of help.” He took a few deep breaths before he continued.   
“Cassie, I had… sworn to myself once, that I won’t do this again in my life,” another pause followed.  
“I had hated myself for what I am ever since, for the monster that I could become. But someone told me lately, that it was time to... come to terms with that. I’m sorry that you’ll have to see this side of me, but I honestly don’t see another solution.”

I thought his plan was to feed on me and that he’d wanted to apologize for it, because I knew that he would absolutely hate himself for this. I started to tell him, that I was ok with it, but he’d pushed himself up and hobbled for the edge of the platform to our left instead. Maybe he wanted to check how much time we had left, until the fey would catch up with us. 

Standing on the edge he turned, his eyes finding mine and mouthed ‘I’m sorry’.  
And then he jumped.


	6. Chapter 6

Right into the abyss.

“No!!!” I screamed at the now empty space and ran after him, already knowing that it would be too late. I didn’t know what I had expected to find, but this definitely wasn’t it. Caleb ran beside me and pulled me down to the ground. Then we both couldn’t do anything but watch.

Pritkin had somehow managed to land silently behind the last fey warrior and to sneak up on him unnoticed. He immediately jumped him from behind and wrapped his hands around the fey’s throat. Then Pritkin pulled him back, into the shadow of a nearby rock. And something was wrong with that, my brain informed me sluggishly.  
My eyes widened when it finally hit me.

It had looked too easy, pretty much effortless. I couldn’t see what exactly Pritkin did and probably I didn’t want to. The look on the other man’s face was enough. His eyes were narrowed and his mouth was slightly open. He was perfectly calm, clearly enjoying what was happening. Pritkin must have used a pretty strong suggestion. I could see the fey’s ivory skin turn into something grey and dry like sandpaper, his hair and his  _life_ \- vanished in less than a minute.  
The fey warrior hadn’t even tried to fight him.  
No, I corrected myself, he hadn’t even _wanted_ to fight him.

I heard Caleb swear next to me. “You know,” he said “knowing in theory is one thing, but seeing him in action - damn! A little disturbing anyway, but -damn!”  
“Would someone please fill me in, because what the hell?” that was Tremaine, lying on the ground next to Caleb. I just had forgotten he was there.  
“I uhm, well... in fact I don’t think - oh shit!”

One of the remaining fay warriors - Pritkin had put down three of them in the meantime and was now busy fighting two fey warriors and one of the dark mages - had used the distraction and had nearly reached the platform.

Obviously he’d underestimated war mage reflexes. Tremaine shot him straight between the eyes with an iron bullet and he fell back down.  
Then I didn’t have time to give him further explanation because the other fey didn’t make the same mistake. And they had company.

I was pretty sure he was a dark mage. He was covered head to toes in black fighting attire, armed to the teeth and looking grim. Of course I had to admit that the description would have fit on the silver circle's war mages just as well. Be that as it may, he clearly wasn’t on our side. And he had to inherit some fey blood or something, because he didn’t seem to have problems using his magic. Right now he used his power mainly to shield against Tremaines bullets, while they finally reached the platform.

I was pretty sure there must have been more than seven after all.  
Caleb grabbed me and shoved me behind himself, gun in hand.  
He concentrated on shooting the fey, because the bullets wouldn't get through the mages shields. The fey warriors did a pretty good job avoiding them. I really missed my gun right now, but we had left it in the cave.

“Stay behind me”, Caleb ordered. He used his other hand to throw a nasty looking vial at the mage. It did have some visible effect on his shields but didn’t get through. The mage showed us an ugly grin.

“Now, look who we’re having here!” he walked calmly towards us and quickly ducked another vial.  
“The circle's ever so highly protected Pythia herself, in the middle of nowhere with only two rather useless war mages left to guard her. Do they want to get rid of you? In that case, I could help.”

The mage obviously considered Pritkin dead. I desperately looked for a way out, but our options were limited.  
Tremaine was a few feet to our left, fighting a pretty impressive sword against spear combat with a fey warrior. Caleb was shooting with one hand and throwing different vials with the other, while he walked us back towards the bigger rock we had used for cover before. He had used some kind of potion on himself to be able to power a minor shield, which at least protected us from the feys poisoned arrows. And Pritkin was still nowhere in sight.  
We were so screwed.

The dark mage had obviously come to the same conclusion, his hand reaching beneath his coat. I guessed to pull out something lethal. But I would never know for sure.  
A shining blue line appeared out of thin air and wrapped itself around the mages’ legs like a whip. Then he fell face first on the hard stone ground and was back over the edge again. All in all it had taken less than two seconds.

Another second later I felt a massive shockwave of power growling through the ground in waves. I could feel it shiver through my bones.

Caleb shoved me behind the rock and glared at me. “Stay here. Right here, Cassie, I mean it. We’ll deal with them.” With that he ran to help Tremaine because a second fey had joined the fight in the meantime.  
I duck behind the rock and took a breath before I cautiously started forward, towards the edge where the dark mage had vanished. The next thing I realized was a baseball sized red orb falling down in front of me.

“GRENADE!” I screamed, simultaneously turning to run back to the rock and covering my head with my arms. I almost made it, but tripped clumsily over something and fell to my knees. Waiting for the certain death to come, I closed my eyes, only thinking that I couldn't save him now and that it had all been my fault.

When the grenade exploded, I saw the light nonetheless, heard the deafening noise and felt it shake the ground beneath me. What I didn’t feel was pain.

It must have been quick, I thought relieved, because I could feel warm hands against my skin. His hands. I could even feel his aura and smell the typical scent of him. I could hear the known plopping sound off his shields giving up the ghost.

At that I opened my eyes and determined that I was still alive. Pritkin knelt in front of me and had grabbed my arms. He must have thrown his shields around us just in time. At first I was relieved to see him alive and moving, but it didn’t last long. Pritkin breathed heavily, his coat was gone and he was covered in dust and blood and god knew what else. I reached for him, when I saw a sudden movement. Jumping down from a higher platform one of the fey brandishing a huge spear appeared behind Pritkin and shoved it home.

After that, everything went a little grey. Time seemed to screech to a halt, including my heartbeat. I had forgotten that somebody must have thrown the grenade after all.

“No”, I barely whispered, my voice shaking.

The fey warrior smiled at me and gave his spear a little push. It’s tip ruptured through Pritkins chest with an ill sounding crack. And as if that wouldn’t be enough he twisted it. A swell of blood emerged Pritkins mouth.

“You have no idea how long I’ve been waiting to kill that vial creature," he looked satisfied, but I ignored him, concentrating on Pritkin. He didn’t scream despite the excruciating pain he must be in. Instead he tried to say something, but only more blood came out of his mouth. Then he looked on a spot next to my knee. I followed his gaze and pulled my sleeve around my hand to grab the small piece of arrow, that earlier stuck in Pritkins thigh. Right before I slammed it in the fey’s leg.

The fey screamed in surprise and pain, let go off his spear and stumbled back. Then his body began to spasm and he fell heavily to the floor.

Caleb reached us, taking in the situation at war mage speed.  
“Okay John, I’m afraid this is going to hurt.”  
Pritkin gave a little nod and closed his eyes. I closed mine as well because I couldn’t watch this.  
I just couldn’t.  
Despite that, I was frozen in terror.  
Then I heard a wet noise and this time Pritkin screamed.


	7. Chapter 7

I could feel his pain as if it were my own and it almost broke me. 

But when there was silence surrounding us, I opened my eyes again. There was blood everywhere and this time I was sure most of it was his. Caleb had grabbed his shoulders to steady him. Pritkins breath was shallow, but between gritted teeth he managed to get out a single word.   
“Hurry.”  
Then his head sank down and he mercifully passed out.

Caleb didn’t waste time. He threw Pritkin over his shoulders and started for the upleading path. It was Tremaine who pulled me out of my state of shock. He pulled me up and we followed Caleb.  
I didn’t remember much from the rest of the path but it seemed to be endless. Finally we reached the portal and crossed back to earth. As soon as we arrived I felt my power rushing back. I catched Caleb and Pritkin and immediately shifted. 

We landed in the middle of the kitchen. I didn’t hesitate and ran for the garden. With heavily shaking hands I ripped the violet flowers off and ran back. Please don’t let it be too late. Please.   
I tried to calm down myself. After all I had seen him shrug off a knife to the chest as if it weren’t more than a bee sting. 

But wasn’t this different? A doubtful voice in my head told me. It showed me the pictures in my head. The violet veins caused from the acid-forming poison, the sharp blade sticking out of his chest, the blood.

Caleb had put Pritkin on the floor. He’d found a relative clear spot between a lot of shards and pieces, leftovers from the kitchen watch and some ceramic pots or dishes. Caleb had already emptied and cleaned the injection. I gave him the flowers and he pressed the juice into it. Then he tapped it a few times, pushed the residual air out of it and injected it directly into Pritkins neck. 

It was unsaid, but we had done all we could and now it was up to him. But I couldn’t just stand there and wait. I knelt on his side, took one of his hands in mine and buried the other one in his hair, slowly stroking it.   
“Come on, Pritkin! We’d done everything! We’re here! I’m here with you, but you have to fight!” Panic began to overwhelm me again, because if ever a guy had looked dead Pritkin was him.   
“Damnit Pritkin! You’re a war mage so act like one and fight!! Don’t you dare die on me!” I put my ear over his mouth, because I was almost sure he didn’t breathe. 

Two weeks ago Pritkin had planned to show me how to do mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. Right now I regretted that we’d gotten very soon very distracted. Thankfully Pritkin had insisted on showing me the basics. And he’d warned me. His dead serious face came into my mind, when he’d told me to not try mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on him. He’d reminded me, that he might feed in an automatic self preservation and drain me dry. 

“Shit. Caleb can you do cardiac massage?” He nodded and ripped the poor remains of Pritkins hoodie away. I bent down to give it at least a try.  
As soon as my lips touched his, I felt an immediate powerdrain. In my surprise I quickly pulled back.   
“Hands off!”, I told Caleb. I knew the risk I would take and I knew that Caleb would only endanger himself, if this went to hell.   
“Cassie, you can’t-”,   
“Make sure that Tremaine doesn't tell anyone”, I interrupted him and shifted him back to the portal.

“Ok”, I whispered more to myself than to him “If you can hear me, I trust you.”

And with that I kissed him. 

As of before, the powerdrain started immediately, as soon as my lips touched his. That hadn't been the case the last time when he’d been unconscious caused by a major injury. Then I had needed the help of his demonic father to make him feed on me, but now we didn’t have that problem. Maybe because his incubus half had recognized me or maybe he could feel that I wanted him, even though I wasn’t actually in the mood right now.   
Nonetheless I could feel my power running of me and into him, like a rivulet. After almost a minute of pressing my lips softly against his, I still couldn’t feel a breath against my lips and began to seriously worry, that it might not be enough. That it might be already too late. That the power wouldn’t be enough to heal the massive wound in time. 

I gently stroked his cheek and let my other hand wander, softly caressing his collarbone, trying to concentrate on the sweet memories of our last meeting.   
Slowly it started to feel different. It became more somehow. The small rivulet increased and felt more like a river now. Like a big and wild river, I realized. And with it came the hunger. 

It pulled on my power and simultaneously drowned me in desire. I deepened the kiss and in my head I screamed his name, calling him to me. I wasn't ready to let him go, I was desperate to save him from the abyss that threatened to pull him away. He was mine and I wanted to have him. I needed to have him, to touch him and feel his skin on mine. 

As if he’d heard me, I suddenly felt his hand on my neck, holding me in place. But it didn’t bother me. I would have willingly given him all. When I felt his breath on my lips a second later I was so relieved I could have cried. After another second he opened his eyes. They were almost pure black, but I didn’t care. 

Pritkin grabbed me and turned us over, his lips never leaving mine. While he held me with one hand, the other hand vanished under my shirt and slowly followed the outlines of my bra. It felt like he was breathing me in and I bathed in that feeling, no longer capable of any reasonable thoughts. 

With my hands I stroked down his muscular back, but somehow there was something wrong with them, they felt so cold and unusually heavy. I just let them fall to the ground beside me, still enjoying Pritkins kiss, his scent, his skin on mine. 

He finally broke the kiss and watched me, black eyes hungrily burning into mine. I wanted to reach for him, to pull him back to me, but for some reason I couldn’t lift my hands. A frustrated sound echoed through the silence. 

Then Pritkin lifted me up and carried me into another room, where he laid me on something warmer and softer than the kitchen floor. When he bent down to kiss me again, I knew that something had changed. There was no powerdrain in his kiss this time. Instead, I could feel a swell of power, surrounding us like golden light, spending warmth like a blanket, keeping me from falling into the darkness. I felt the power rush into me, warming me down to my bones and sucked it up.  
Unexpectedly I realized, that Pritkin didn’t push any further. 

On the contrary, he’d stopped caressing my breast, softened his kiss and gently pulled me into his arms. My muscles relaxed, I felt safe and in a way grounded. The desperate hunger was gone. It was awesome and pretty comfortable.

When his lips finally left mine, I watched his eyes in amazement. They were all black and green - waves and spots and shimmers. It was breathtaking.   
When he spoke, his voice was raw.  
“Cassie, you -”.  
I put a finger on his lips.  
“Don’t you dare ruin this moment.”


	8. Chapter 8

We just sat there for a while, enjoying the absence of any immediate threats and eachothers company without being watched or overheard. I took in the state - or more exactly the remains - of what had been a comfy living room once, before it was ambushed by a bunch of newbie war mages. There was a shattered lamp on the floor next to the dark grey couch, the wooden table had a serious crack and the door had seen better days. There wasn’t much left of it.

“You know Cassie, I’m still torn whether I should kiss you or give you a hiding for what you did. It’s actually becoming sort of a habit lately.”  
Yeah, I could relate.  
I shrugged.   
“Let me know, when you decided.”  
“I will, but until then I’d start with a shower. And, I’d say it wouldn’t hurt you to see some soap as well.”  
I sent him a look, but he had a point.  
“Think you’re up to shift us?”

I thought about it for a moment. My power was ready. I could feel it in my belly like a consistent hum. But where should we go? It wasn’t like we could go back to my suite or his apartment right now. I was pretty sure that the circle found out about our disappearance in the meantime and if we’d like to give it another try, it might be better to avoid them, at least at the moment. But we also couldn’t stay here for long. I was pretty sure that it won’t take long for Caleb and Teemaine to show up and I wanted some answers before that. 

“Where to?”  
“Not, where, when.”  
“When?”   
“Yes, when. I thought about it. We can’t just shift back to Vegas right now.” I nodded to cut the explanations short.  
“We can’t stay here either and to be honest, I don’t know how much of the bathroom survived anyway. So much for selling," he looked resigned. “But before I moved to Vegas and rent the house to Jonas it was practically empty for almost a year. I had some stuff here, but spent most of the time already at MAGIC in Vegas or in the HQ here. We could take a rest there - or then - and no one would ever know.”

“Really, it sounds amazing, but what if we alter time somehow? I mean, look at us, that’s how our plans usually work out.” The blood and dust on our skin hat dried and was coming off in little clusters with every movement.  
“I’m pretty sure that we won’t. The house is very isolated and well warded. We could use a glamourie if necessary. And if we would, your power will certainly give you a sign or a warning, don’t you think?”

A sign, yeah. I obviously wasn’t on my best right now because it had taken me some time to see the obvious.   
“I’ll ask my power.”   
“Ask?” he raised an eyebrow.  
“Yes, I’ll ask. Give me a minute.”

After all I was Pythia and there had to be at least some benefits, like asking for options for example. I tried to concentrate on the question. Should Pritkin and I take a rest in the past?  
A picture came up in my head, like a vision: some bags and other luggage standing in front of a big red bus; then another one, this time I saw Rhea with the kids, happily baking some cookies; a third one showed me a green meadow on a sunny day.   
I didn’t really doubt that this was a yes, the pictures were clear enough, but just to make sure, I asked what if we wouldn't take that rest?  
And immediately regretted it. The outcome was clear. 

I saw my suite in Vegas, or what was left of it. Everything was blackened as if burned in a huge fire. In the background I saw a small figure, a girl or a woman. She was covered in black filth, curls and all, desperately trying to resurrect the poor guy on the ground in front of her. I didn't need to get a close look to know who the woman was and the unique terribly spiky hair of him confirmed my fear.

I mentally drew back with all I had because I’d had definitely enough of such images for one day.   
Or for this year.   
Or forever.   
“Ok, agreed, but you’ll give me some answers then. You owe me. And I need a date.”  
“Good, I will leave a message for Caleb and Tremaine.” 

He stood up and went to the kitchen, I assumed to get some paper. I followed him and noticed that he still hobbled a little and leaned heavily on the countertop, which was the only thing in the kitchen that had come out more or less unchanged. The clock lay shattered on the ground, together with shards of glasses, dishes, teapots and coffee mugs. 

“And you have to promise me, that you’ll take a break, too. You look like hell.”   
Pritkin was writing a note and didn’t look up. Nonetheless I could practically hear how he rolled his eyes.  
“Make that two and a half years before today and be sure that you shift us outside the house. Otherwise the wards would treat you like an intruder,” he winced. “You might better add a few feet, just to be sure.”

I mentally added a few extra feet, grabbed his shoulder and shifted.


	9. Chapter 9

Twenty minutes later Pritkin was freshly showered and now looked more like himself again than like a mineworker after a Bus crash. His hair was still damp and his shirt stuck to a few places where he hadn’t dried himself enough. A few drops ran slowly down his neck. I had to admit that I really liked that. 

“Your turn. I’ll go to town to get you some clothes and to buy something to eat in the meantime.” He passed by and slapped me on the butt.   
But before I could protest he’d grabbed me, swung me around himself, pressed me against the fridge and kissed me senseless. 

“As you can see, I figured that I just could do both.” Pritkin was grinning like a boy who was proud that he’d just managed to play a trick on somebody. It reminded me a lot of Pritkin's unburdened younger version I had met in Wales. It was stunning. 

The look on my face must have been adequate because his grin even widened. “Hold that thought, I’ll be back soon.” 

After he left I went upstairs to finally get a shower. When I entered the bathroom I found a towel, one of Pritkin's shirts a pair of his track pants and socks nicely piled on the shelf next to the mirror. The floor was still wet from Pritkin, but it was clean.   
I couldn’t say that about myself.  
One short look at the mirror had shown me enough and I decided: screw it.   
I went into the shower. It took quite a while to scrub all the blood off me. I had to remind myself more than once that Pritkin was alive and well.   
When I finally couldn't find any more blood or dust or whatever, I decided I was done. 

The shirt was barely covering my butt so I put the track pants on as well. It actually felt pretty comfy.  
After I finished cleaning up the bathroom I went back to the kitchen. Pritkin had already come back and was rummaging in one of the lower kitchen cabinets. I just enjoyed the view for a moment. Until I realized that Pritkin was perfectly aware of what I was doing.   
Oh, well, I was ooling my boyfriend. I must have hit my head on a rock.

“I bought you something to wear. There’s a second bag on the couch. I’m almost done here.” Pritkin turned to grin at me. “Hungry?”  
My stomach growled in agreement. He started to laugh and shook his head. “Why do I even ask?!”  
He must have found what he had been searching for, because he shook some of it over whatever he had just fried. It smelled heavenly. 

“They didn't sell jelly donuts, so I decided to make some bakestones instead. There’s a truckload of sugar in it and it’s fried and I added some icing sugar on top. I figured you’d like it.”  
“Bakestones?”  
“Welsh cake,” he explained, looking a little nervous. Which was kind of weird considering the circumstances. Pritkin was being nice - not merely nice - if it had been somebody else I’d have said lovely, but no. Pritkin wasn’t lovely. 

I was increasingly sure that I wouldn’t like the answers he’d promised me and waited for the shoe to drop.  
But then he put one of the freshly fried bakestones on the table in front of me and I forgot about it. When I was halfway through he brought me a coffee cup, printed with the commercial of the local coffee shop. He had a similar cup and sat down on the other side of the table. For some reason he watched me expectantly. 

“It’s really sweet and - yum”, I told him, licking some of the icing off my fingers, but he didn’t seem satisfied.  
When I drank some coffee - or whatever it really was - I almost spilled it over the table.   
“What the…? Oh no”, I said, sounding a little sad. “They must have mixed up the cups. I got decaf - mommy.”  
“No”, Pritkin stated matter of factly, sliding nervously on his chair.  
“What do you mean, no?”   
“I meant no, they didn’t mix the cups, they are exactly what I ordered.”  
“Exactly what you…-”  
The shoe dropped.   
I swallowed.  
Hard.

“You mean…? Are you sure?? How do you know???”   
“I can hear its heartbeat Cassie.”

I looked down at my stomach as if it was something alien and then back at him. He had an apologizing and uncertain look on his face, but his eyes beamed at me nonetheless.

“It's heartbeat.” I took a breath. 

And then I took another one.

And then Pritkin obviously just couldn’t take it anymore. He came beside me and took my hands in his.   
“Cassie, I know what you think. And I know that you may need some time to come to terms with that, which is your right, but I can assure you that we’ll find a way. Okay? It’ll be alright. We can stay here for the next few months and until then we’ll figure out the rest. You can do that. We can do that.” 

His hands felt warm and I thought about it for a moment.   
Suddenly a lot of things started to make sense.   
And suddenly I could see it. 

A memory came to my mind, from a little girl, with huge blue eyes and a mop of curly blond hair, calling me mommy.  
“Pheobe”, I whispered.   
“I beg your pardon?”  
“It’s not an it, Pritkin, it’s a she”, and the memory of that incredibly sweet little girl made me smile. And then smile some more. I looked at Pritkin and his eyes were perfidiously wet but he grinned like he was the happiest man in history.

“I love you...both of you.”   
And with that he kissed me.

The end.


End file.
